#theres mentioned video games because come on this is me

Friendship: Russel and Velvet

Okay, so maybe it was, perhaps, not the best idea. And maybe had Velvet thought about it for more than two seconds, she would’ve realized that. Maybe Russel would’ve if he’d bothered to think on it for more than two seconds. But neither of them did. So contemplating the validity of the idea really didn’t do anything for them at this point aside from giving them the very real (and accurate) impression that if Cardin had known about this he’d be telling them both ‘I told you so’ right about now. That or asking them how they possibly thought this was a good idea.

(Answer: They hadn’t really thought at all, duh . Not past 'oh, this’ll be cool.’)

Where were they? Handcuffed together, of course.

“Are you sure you don’t remember where the keys are?” Russel asked.

“I don’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning,” Velvet said. Though now that she said it, she was thinking about it, and after a minute her brain provided her the answer she neither needed nor really wanted. Toast and fruit. (Strawberries and raspberries.) She sighed to herself, ignoring her brain’s sudden desire to be helpful for something that was definitely not what she wanted it to be helpful for, and tried to pick the lock again. “We don’t need it, anyhow. One of us’ll be able to get it.”

They both could pick locks, honestly, it shouldn’t be this hard. Why did Cardin’s shitty house lock have to be easier than these handcuffs?

“Maybe I should try again?” Russel said. Velvet handed over the lock pick and dropped her hand into his lap.

“Good luck,” she said and meant it. Would she prefer to be the one to get them out? Yeah. That was kinda the whole point of this little 'exercise’, after all. A small competition to see who could get them out faster. Except they put them on and that has been an hour ago and here they still were. At this point who won mattered quite a bit less than the getting out. Unless they wanted to spend the rest of their day together. And while she loved her brother, she didn’t treasure the idea of having to follow him to the toilet.

“Hey, if you don’t get it, maybe Scarlet can. I’m sure you’d love to watch him work,” Velvet said, waggling her eyebrows and moving her shoulders. Russel fumbled, almost dropping the lock pick.

“No,” he lied. Poorly. Velvet hummed. Russel repeated it stronger, “ No . I don’t want to see those long fingers anywhere near my wrists or hands, shut up.”

Velvet gasped dramatically. She tried to make it sound as fake as possible, just to drive the point home. And because she knew it messed with him when people were genuinely upset with him, especially when he couldn’t do anything about it. What can she say, she needed him to know she was fucking with him or it just wouldn’t be funny. “How dare you tell me to shut up. Your loving older sister who’s just trying to look out for you and your crush on tall, British, and dumb.”

“Velvet ,” Russel whined.

“Sorry, not dumb, fabulous,” Velvet said with a smirk that perhaps said she’d spent too much time with Cardin since the three of them quite literally ran into eachother in the hallway.

“I will leave you behind,” Russel threatened.

“If you can get out,” Velvet said. Not like he would actually leave her here, anyway.

Russel groaned. Velvet closed her eyes and rested against the wall. She could hear the scrape of the lock pick against the lock. It was clear he still wasn’t having much luck with it. She let him work silently for a few minutes. Though it had been a joke, Velvet did actually consider getting Scarlet. The boy had a weird set of random skills. And lock picking really was one of them. If neither of them got out, he was definitely the last resort.

Finally, a small, metallic click actually resounded in her ears. She was so surprised that she didn’t even really register it until Russel gave a triumphant noise. The cuff around her own wrist jangled as the cuff that’d been attached to Russel’s dropped.

“Fuck yeah!” Russel said and Velvet opened her eyes. He had his cuff off, rubbing his wrist where it’d gotten a bit sore from being held for so long.

“Nice, Russ!” Velvet said. “You won!”

Russel beamed at her. It still took him maybe fifteen more minutes to get hers off.